


Time Stood Still

by scarletmanuka



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, BAMF Tony Stark, M/M, Peter is trapped, Pre-Relationship, School Shootings, Starker, Worried Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-13 17:02:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18473266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletmanuka/pseuds/scarletmanuka
Summary: Tony is in a very boring meeting when he hears the news. There's an active shooter situation at Midtown Tech and Peter is trapped inside.





	Time Stood Still

**Author's Note:**

> Guys, please please please do not read this is you get triggered by school shootings. There are no graphic descriptions but I don't want to cause anyone anxiety accidentally.

Tony was in the middle of a very boring meeting with his shareholders when his phone vibrated on the table. He glanced down and saw that it was a text from Peter and curious as to why the boy would be texting him during the day, he swiped the message open.

_I’m in the gym - Peter_

Okay...that was weird. He wondered if Peter had accidentally sent the text to the wrong person and he dismissed the app, dragging his attention back to the boring as hell slideshow presentation about their latest figures.

It wasn’t long after when his AI broke the news. FRIDAY only ever interrupted if it was a matter of urgency but when the holoscreen popped up in front of Tony, blank, he was a little confused. Normally she would just start playing whatever news article had flagged her alert system. “Fri?” he asked, holding up a hand to shush Williams who never took the hint that it was quiet time now.

“Boss, you need to brace yourself,” FRIDAY said, her Irish lilt soft.

Tony’s heart hammered in his chest as every single worst case scenario flashed through his mind. His throat was tight and it was suddenly hard to breathe but he ignored that, adamant that he would _not_ have a panic attack, not here, not now. He didn't care if his shareholders saw, but whatever the situation was, it was bad enough that his AI thought that he needed forewarning. That meant that he had to be on top of his game, not huddled in on himself trying to remember how to breathe. “What’ve we got, Fri?” he asked, trying to put as much confidence and authority into his voice as he could muster.

She didn't reply, just began showing a news clip and Tony swore that his heart actually stopped for a moment. Time drew to a halt around him as he took in the helicopter footage on the screen, feeling so far away but also so close to home all at the same time. He knew that school; recognised instantly the parking lot where he would wait to pick up Peter in the afternoons when he had his internship; the front doors that would fly open to let out a horde of students escaping for the day, his eyes honing in on a head of tousled brown locks and a beaming smile that was just for him. Those afternoons were the ones that Tony looked forward to the most, tinkering in the lab with Peter, working on both their suits together, laughing and joking. It had surpassed the mentorship mark an eon ago, as Tony’s affections for the teen had grown, but it wasn’t until Peter’s seventeenth birthday that he’d realised that what he felt wasn’t innocent anymore. Tony had a crush the size of Manhattan on the kid and he wanted so much _more_. He’d never made a move however, despite being fully aware of Peter’s own crush on him. He cared too much for the kid to go and ruin his life by starting a relationship with such a big age gap, not to mention the status gap. Tony didn’t care about either of those things, and Peter probably didn't either, but the rest of the world would and they’d never stop harassing them about it. Tony had been raised in the public spotlight but Peter had not and there was no way that he’d be able to shrug off the horrible things that would be said about the both of them.

The headline that was rolling beneath the footage of Midtown Tech pierced Tony’s heart. _Active Shooter_. The newscaster was explaining the facts that they had at hand - thirty minutes ago, three students had entered the school and had opened fire. A security guard had shot one of the boys during an exchange of gunfire, and police had explained that CCTV footage showed that he was injured, but the other two had begun to make their way methodically through the school.

Without saying a word, Tony stood from the table, hit his chest to activate the nanites and his bleeding edge armour formed around him. FRIDAY had a window open already and he jumped through it, the thrusters already firing to propel him forward.

“I want real time access to CCTV, Fri,” he instructed.

_“On it, boss.”_

The cops would have that locked down to prevent the media from gaining access but he knew that it would be no problem for his AI. Within seconds the footage was scrolling across his HUD, flickering through multiple screens from various cameras. His blood ran cold at several ominous shots of two boys holding semi-automatics, prowling the halls. Another screen showed bodies laying where they’d fallen, and he couldn't help but look for those tousled brown locks. “Have you managed to locate Pete?” he asked, his voice terse with worry. “His text said he was in the gym.”  _Please still be there, please still be there._

_“He and a small number of his classmates were definitely in the gym when the alert was sounded. They have taken refuge in the gymnasium storage room.”_

“Thank fuck. Play it for me.”

On the screen began footage captured from one of the cameras high in the roof of the gymnasium. There was no sound, and it didn't give Tony much. It showed Peter with three classmates, none of whom he recognised, gathered around large sheets of paper on the floor. It looked like they were working on the history project that Peter had mentioned and they’d chosen the empty gym to have room to spread out. Their heads snapped up, presumably when the alert sounded, and they jumped to their feet, looking around wildly. It was Peter who took control, his eyes falling on the storage room door and ushering his classmates over to it. He paused at the door, his eyes finding the camera and looking directly at it. He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked to be a bracelet and slapped it on his wrist - his web slingers. Tony swallowed around the lump in his throat, understanding that that had been a message intended for him. Peter wasn’t unarmed, he would hold out until Tony came for him. After another second, Peter turned and entered the storage room, closing the door behind him.

“Fri, ETA?”

_“Four minutes to reach Midtown Tech, boss.”_

“Hold on, Petey, I’m coming,” he whispered

oOoOo

“This is worth twenty five percent of our final grade,” Haru said, spreading out the butcher’s paper on the ground. “We need it to be big, we need it to be sophisticated, and we need it to be accurate.” He uncapped a marker and sat back to look at the others. “Right, let’s start brainstorming. Ideas?”

After a beat of silence, Lola shyly raised her hand. “Maybe we could make a stop motion video, depicting the events?”

“I like it!” Haru exclaimed, writing down the idea in his immaculate handwriting. “Anyone else got ideas?”

Peter tilted his head at Lola. “I thought I did but that’s heaps better. I vote for stop motion.” The girl grinned at him and Peter gave her a thumbs up.

“Yeah, I agree,” Jasmine said. “It’ll be a creative and interesting way to get the information across, plus it’ll be fun for us.”

“Right, well that was easy,” Haru said with a grin. “Shall we start with a storyboard and figure out what we want to do?”

They got down to business, throwing out ideas, flipping through their textbook to make sure they had their facts right, and slowly coming up with a narrative. Peter sat back, stretching to work out a kink in his back that he got from his patrol last night, and glanced at his phone. On the days that he had his internship with Mr Sta - Tony, crap, he had to remember, he’d been asked to call him _Tony_ \- with Tony, he always found himself counting down the hours, minutes, and seconds until school let out. Most of the time, Tony would pick him up, unless he was in a meeting that he simply couldn’t get out of, and then he’d just meet him at the lab when he was able. He couldn’t be one hundred percent sure, but Peter was _almost_ certain that Tony had started to pick him up after school because of the bullying. Flash and his crew were always quick to suggest that Peter didn't actually have an internship at Stark Industries, and even if he did, there was no way that Tony Stark himself would ever be involved in it. Peter probably just delivered mail and made coffee for the other plebs; there was no way that he would be working on cutting edge experiments with _Iron Man_. It had all gotten too much one day and Peter had blurted out some of the horrible things that his classmates had been saying, and the very next day, Tony had appeared at the front of the school, in a fancy BMW, leaning casually against it. When Peter had seen him, the genius had opened his arms, pulled him into a crushing hug, and had announced in a voice loud enough to be heard on the football field that he was here to pick up his favourite intern. Peter had blushed at the scrutiny from the other students but couldn’t deny that seeing Flash’s jaw drop open had been totally worth it. He also couldn’t deny that it had felt fucking amazing to be pressed against Tony’s firm body.

Every now and then, Peter would catch a glance from Tony, where his eyes lingered just a fraction too long, that might suggest that his mentor returned his feelings. Sometimes late at night, when they were exhausted but elated from a break through, they would find themselves standing so close that their hips would be pressing against each other as they stared at a holoscreen. Peter would lean into the touch, trying to memorise every tiny sensation, breathing in deeply to inhale Tony’s scent. And Tony would reach over and pat his shoulder to say ‘good job’ and then his hand would slide over to his opposite shoulder and pull the teen in for a one-armed hug. It was never overt, and perhaps it was simply all in Peter’s imagination, but he couldn’t help but hope that Tony felt the same. His daydreams were full of little scenarios where the two would finally declare their feelings, that Tony would reach up and cup Peter’s cheek, brush across the smooth skin with his thumb before slowly leaning in to kiss him softly.

Peter was pulled from his daydream by a sharp sound echoing down the hallway. Another followed, then another and another, the unmistakable sound of gunfire. Almost immediately the alert sounded and a recorded message announced that there was an active shooter situation and that students were to take cover.

They jumped to their feet but then his classmates seemed to freeze, their eyes full of fear, but luckily Peter had been in enough dangerous situations to have a handle on the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He looked around the gym, searching for a place for them to hide but the bleachers offered little protection, the locker rooms would have little they could move to barricade the door, and the office had a large glass window that overlooked the gym. His eyes fell on the only other door and he recalled that it was a storage room for equipment. He pointed to it and then ushered the others over to it, urging them inside. His web slinger sat heavy in his pocket and he fought the need to put it on, to go and confront whoever was shooting, to put a stop to it. But he couldn’t do that. It wasn’t that he was scared of giving away his secret identity, that was the last thing that he cared about right now. It was that he had made a promise to May.

When they’d first had their training on what to do in such a situation, she had made him swear that he wouldn’t go after the shooters, that he would stay safe. She knew what he was capable of as Spider-Man, knew of his strengths, but also knew that he wasn’t bulletproof. Ben had been shot down during a robbery, and May was terrified of Peter being caught up in something similar. She allowed him to go out and fight bad guys, to keep the neighbourhood safe, but she had also made him promise that he would stay low and out of trouble if he was ever caught up in a school shooting. She had been so upset when she’d wrung that promise from him, that Peter swore that he wouldn’t let her down. Tony had been helping him work on his feelings of guilt for when he was unable to help out, and although it had taken some time, he knew now that the bad things that happened weren’t his fault, even if he chose not to get involved. He had a choice now, and that choice was to keep his promise, and to keep his classmates that were with him safe. That was all he could do and he could accept that.

His eyes sought out the camera and he knew that as soon as Tony discovered the situation, Iron Man would be on the way. He made a show of putting on his web slinger before he went inside the equipment room, sending both Tony and FRIDAY a message that told them where he was and what he was armed with. He just hoped that everyone else would safely barricade themselves into their classrooms and whoever was shooting wouldn’t manage to kill anyone.

The light in the room was on and Peter took stock of the situation after locking the door behind him (all doors were now required to be lockable from the inside as well as out for this exact reason). There were shelves full of various equipment, cages with basketballs, tennis balls, and soccer balls. Knotted rope lay on one shelf, racquets for tennis and badminton on another. He eyed up the closest shelf and knew that even without his spider strength, they’d be able to heft it in front of the door. His classmates were all in various stages of panic, Lola was on the ground in the very back of the small room, knees drawn up to her chin as she tried to stifle her sobs. Haru was pacing, exuding nervous energy, and Jasmine was standing with her arms across her chest, chin tucked downwards so she could chew on a fingernail. Although he empathised with them, Peter knew that they had to take action now - panic could wait.

“Right, everyone help me move this shelf in front of the door. Come on now, we have to hurry.” They all stared at him and he clapped his hands, the sharp sound seeming to pierce the fog of panic. “Come on guys, we gotta move.”

They emptied the shelf of the equipment and then managed to lower it down in front of the door, and then Peter instructed them to collect whatever heavy items they could find to stack on top of it. Once that was done, he got them to turn over another shelf, and then they moved two punching bags in front of it before he guided them behind, hoping that if anyone managed to force the door open, the bags would at least slow the bullets so they wouldn’t cause any fatal injuries. Once the three teens were crouching down behind the shelf, Peter scooted in behind them, putting himself closest to the door. Lola choked out another sob and he pulled her to him, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay,” he assured her. “We’re going to be fine.”

“Who is it who is doing this?” she whimpered.

“I don’t know,” he admitted.

“Do you think they’ve killed anyone?” Haru asked.

“Oh God, this isn’t how I wanted to die,” Lola cried, her whole body shaking.

“We’re not going to die.”

“How do you know?” she wailed. “There’s people out there with guns, looking for people to kill! If they find us, we’re as good as dead, Peter! The cops will be useless, half of us will get shot before they can do _anything_!”

“She’s right,” Jasmine said quietly. “Statistics aren’t in our favour.”

Before they all succumbed to that sort of thinking, Peter decided to play his hand. “Do you guys know who I intern for?”

Haru snorted. “Who doesn’t? Everyone knows you’ve got a Stark Internship.”

“Exactly. And who is Tony Stark?”

Lola jerked her head up, hope in her eyes for the first time since they’d heard the shots. “Iron Man,” she whispered.

“Exactly. Look, Tony is like family to me and he’s not gonna sit by when he hears about this and let us fend for ourselves. He’s gonna come, okay. He’ll get us out of here, I know he will.”

Lola took a shuddering breath in and then let it out slowly. “Okay,” she said, nodding.

“Right, let’s just stay quiet now, okay. We’ll sit it out, and we’ll wait. Tony’s gonna come, we just have to wait.” He pulled out his phone. “I’m texting Tony to tell him where we are. Everyone make sure your phones are on silent, but you might want to text your family.” He left off the ‘just in case’ since he was trying so hard to be optimistic, but if things went bad, they wouldn’t have time for regrets.

A minute later more gunshots echoed from nearby but although they all jerked at the sudden sound, none of them cried out. Peter felt Lola’s hand slip into his and he looked over to see that she had taken Jasmine’s hand with her other one, and Jasmine was holding Haru’s. All they could do now was wait.

Together.

oOoOo

As much as he wanted to fly directly to where Pere was and get him out, Tony knew that he had a responsibility to the other kids caught up in the shooting to get as much information as he could from the cops on the scene. He flew in low and landed directly in front of where law enforcement were setting up and hunted down the person in charge, ignoring the way the media had gone crazy when he’d arrived.

“Iron Man,” a tall, dark man with an air of authority to him stated as Tony stode forward.

Noting the rank on his shirt, Tony nodded. “Captain. What’s the situation?”

The Captain raised an eyebrow. “I have to say, this seems a little below your paygrade. The Avengers don’t usually get involved in this sort of thing.”

Tony grit his teeth and tried not to scream, not wanting to get involved in a pissing contest over rank. “I’m not here as part of the Avengers, Captain, I’m here because someone I care about very much is in there at this very moment and I’m here to get him out.”

The man turned away, dismissing him. “Leave this to the professionals, Stark.”

“Oh, and who would they be? The people standing around here _doing nothing_?”

“We’re waiting for SWAT to get here - I can’t send my people in there unprotected as you very well know.”

Tony scowled, a little annoyed that the man couldn’t see it behind the mask. “Well, good thing I’m wearing armour then, isn’t it?” Without waiting for a response, he took off, flying up and over the barricades the cops had set up, ignoring the shout of the Captain he’d left behind. “Fri, what have you got?”

 _“Presently two of the assailants are in the English hallway.”_ She showed him footage of the two teens walking down the hall, guns clasped in hands as they rattled door knobs of locked classrooms and tried to force their way through. _“The third is still down where he fell in the foyer, though I can’t make out if he’s just injured or if he’s deceased, boss.”_

Tony grunted as he made note of that. “Give me specs of the building.”

Immediately a blueprint of the school popped up in front of him and he scanned it to locate the English area. He cursed as he saw that it was close to the gym - too close for his liking. There was no way that he was going to allow those two to get anywhere near Peter, not if he could help it. “Right, well, I’m going in. Keep me updated on SWAT so I know when to expect visitors.”

_“You got it, boss.”_

“Oh, and Fri? Send Pete a message for me?”

_“What shall it say?”_

“Tell him ‘Hold on, I’m coming for you’.”

oOoOo

Peter got Tony’s message and sagged in relief. He was a superhero in his own right but for some reason, it just felt nice to be the one being rescued for once. Maybe that played a little too much into some of his more elaborate fantasies, but none of that mattered right now. Tony was coming for him. He cared enough to come.

He showed the text to the others and saw how they instantly relaxed, knowing that Iron Man was on his way. Jasmine let out a little whoop of joy and hugged Haru and then they all froze as they heard the distinct noise of a rattling door knob.

“Fuck,” Peter whispered under his breath as he peered around the shelf, but of course he couldn’t see anything with their barricade in the way. Then they heard a voice.

“Hello?” it hissed from outside. “Please, let me in! I’m trapped out here and they’re coming, please let me in!”

The three teens turned to Peter for answers, even though he had none. Their wide eyes told him that they were thinking exactly what he was - was this a ruse? Was this one of the shooters trying to get them to open up? But what if it wasn't? What if it really was just one of their classmates who was trapped out in the open with nowhere to hide?

“What do we do?” Lola whispered.

Before Peter could even think of a reply, the knob rattled again, more urgently this time. “Please! I’m begging you, let me in!”

Something in the tone of the voice called out to Peter and he scooted forward towards the barricade.

“Peter, what are you doing?” Haru choked out.

“I think I recognise them,” he answered, getting even closer.

The person outside must have heard them whispering and started speaking again. “Hello? Please, they’re coming, please let me in! I don’t want to die today, please!”

“Flash?” Peter called out in a low voice.

“Parker? Is that you? God, please, Parker, let me in, please!”

Making his decision, Peter began to remove the things they’d dumped on top of the shelf. He might not have gotten on well with Flash - hell, the boy was the bane of his existence some days, but he couldn’t leave him out there in so much danger.

“What the fuck are you doing? You are _not_ opening that door!” Haru snapped.

“It’s Flash,” Peter told them. “We can’t leave him there.”

“How do you know he’s not one of the shooters?”

“He’s got a point,” Jasmine agreed.

Peter shook his head. “Because I just do.”

“You’re going to risk all of our lives for the guy who bullies you?” Haru was beyond indignant.

“Look, I get it - Flash can be a dick at times, and he’s never been overly nice to me, but he’s not the sort to do something like this.”

“How do you know that?”

He couldn’t tell them that it was because his Spidey sense wasn’t going haywire like he knew it would be if it actually _was_ a shooter outside, so instead he said, “Flash is all bark and no bite. We’re letting him in.” Without another word, Peter shoved the shelf out of the way of the door, hoping that in their panic no one would question how he’d moved it by himself. He cracked open the door and saw Flash standing there, looking over his shoulder in fear. “Quick, Flash, get inside.”

Gone was the arrogance that Flash usually held himself with, instead he was shaking in fear like the kid he was. He looked like he was about to cry as Peter pulled him inside and then yelped as a gunshot rang out across the gym.

“Quick, help me get this back in front of the door!” Peter barked and Flash immediately helped him before they retreated back behind the rear shelving unit. There was a thump against the door and they heard two people laughing maniacally from outside as the two assailants honed in on the hiding students.

“Come out, come out wherever you are!” one of them called in a sing song voice.

“Come and meet your fate!” the other one yelled.

Another gunshot rang out, echoing as it ripped through the door and ricocheted off the metal of the shelf in front of the door. Lola screamed and all five teens ducked down low to the ground. Another shot rang out and a stream of light from outside shone through the hole in the door.

“We’re coming to get you,” the first teen called. “You can’t hide from us!”

“And you can’t hide from me.” Peter sagged in relief as he heard Tony’s voice come through the speakers of the Iron Man suit, followed by the sounds of a quick struggle and several thumps. “FRIDAY, alert the good police Captain that I’ve restrained the two gunmen, they can come and get them.” There was the sound of a door being ripped off its hinges and then a shadow fell over them as Iron Man stepped into the doorway. “Ladies and Gentleman,” he announced, “this is your proper captain speaking. You are now clear to disembark from the airplane, please make sure that you have gathered all of your belongings from the seat pocket in front of you and that you take your carry on luggage with you.”

Peter helped his classmates stand up as Tony moved the shelving unit out of the way and then ushered them out of the room, waiting until last. As they exited, several SWAT members burst into the gym, some of them leading the students away from the two teens tied up on the ground, while others moved to secure them further. Peter didn’t see any of that, he only had eyes for Tony. The genius allowed the bleeding edge armour to retract from his body and then he was stepping forward and pulling Peter into a crushing hug.

“You came for me,” Peter choked out as he hugged Tony back.

“I’ll always come for you, Pete. Don’t you know what you mean to me?”

Pulling back just a fraction so he could see the expression on his mentor’s face, Peter was surprised at the depth of the feelings on show. “I think I’m beginning to,” he replied, overjoyed.

“Maybe this weekend you can come and have dinner with me,” Tony murmured, “and I can explain it to you in detail? I don’t want you to have any doubts about how special you are to me, Peter, none at all.”

Peter beamed up at him and then leaned back in for another hug. “I’d like that very much,” he whispered.

“Well then,” Tony said, “sounds like it’s a date.”

 


End file.
